I'm curious to know if anyone has seen crossbills in Ohio this season. I don't recall any recorded reports from last winter, either. FYI below are central Ohio records taken from my book on the region's birds going way back... Bill Whan Red Crossbill Loxia curvirostra. Rare and seemingly more erratic than the following species, in cold weather, with a few interesting occurences in other seasons as well. Wheaton wrote: “I saw a specimen said to have been taken in this vicinity in the winter of 1859-60,” and noted the acquisition, via Oliver Davie, of “a male shot with a pistol by C. Hinman from a flock of 8-10 in conifers in his Columbus garden” on the intriguing date of 18 June 1878 (Wheaton 1879:62), now OSUM #2162, which A. R. Phillips (tag data) identified as L. c. neogaea. Three were at Green Lawn Cemetery 12/18/1925 with siskins (Thomas 1926). OSUM #10234 is a window-kill, its crop filled with pine seeds, from 4/2/1964 (CD 4/20/1964) on Hamilton Road, which three different crossbill experts have identified variously as L. c. pusilla, L. c. benti, and L. c. neogaea on museum tags. Subsequent studies have found that differences in calls, rather than plumage and measurements, are more reliable in subspecies identifications. D. Borror taped a calling flock that grew to 15 at Blendon Woods 4/12-16/1970 (WCB 16:37). E. S. Thomas observed one eating white pine seeds in Clintonville on the unexpected date of 8/27/1972 (WCB 18:24); 5-6 were observed elsewhere in town that day (AB 27(1):70), with one seen the ensuing winter at a Clintonville birdbath on 2/24/1973. There is another August record, from the 30th in 1985 (AB 40(1):123), and one from September on the 29th in 1979 (OC 2(3):26). Bent (237(1):512) gives an early normal arrival in Columbus of 10/11. Local reports come from ten months of the year. More recently, in 2009 one was reported heard and seen on 3/28 in Hilliard (NAB 63(3):429) and another on 2/3 at Green Lawn Cemetery (fide G. Stauffer). In 2012, the same location hosted at least seven on 11/26/2012 (ph. I. Shulgina). Maximum 20 on 1/31/1976 (AFN 30(3):727). A pair in Ross County in April 1973 (Thomson 1983:235) provided Ohio’s only confirmed nesting, which was apparently unsuccessful. White-winged Crossbill Loxia leucoptera. Seemingly unknown to our area’s nineteenth-century observers, but present in appreciable numbers here during occasional winter incursions from the north since, most recently in 2012-13. At such times their flocks are partial to conifer seeds, both on the tree and the ground, as well as fruits of sweetgums. Groves of fruiting mature trees are preferred. One visited Green Lawn Cemetery 1/3/1920 (OSMSB 27), where 20+ were present 1/31/1976 (AB 30(3):727) and as many in certain later years. One was singing 2/5/1996 (OC 19(2):51), and two found 12/8/1997 (OC 21(2):49), an example of rarely-seen incursions in consecutive winters. A late crossbill report came from 4/29/1981 (OC 4(1):37). During the winter of 1963-64, 15 were tallied for the Columbus CBC, only the second record for the count; 62 were in hemlocks later on 1/19/1964, and Trautman reported one at Green Lawn Cemetery 2/16/64 (fide E. Thomas). The county participated in a memorable statewide invasion of these birds in the winter of 2008-9, with numerous reports, mostly involving crossbills feeding on conifers, through the period; this incursion alone raised the number of Ohio CBCs having ever recorded this species from 21 to 27 (Troutman 2010), and Franklin County hosted at least 140 reported, when especially preferred were hemlock seeds in ornamental plantings (OC 32(2):84). Fifteen at Green Lawn 11/8/2012 were the first seasonal arrivals (NAB 67(1):73), with 25-30 the next day, and similar sightings continued through February; 20+ were in a Clintonville back yard feeding on hemlocks obliviously at arm’s length away 1/21 that same year (pers. obs.). Specimen 1/15/1954 OSUM #9307. ______________________________________________________________________ Ohio-birds mailing list, a service of the Ohio Ornithological Society. Please consider joining our Society, at www.ohiobirds.org/site/membership.php. Our thanks to Miami University for hosting this mailing list. You can join or leave the list, or change your options, at: listserv.miamioh.edu/scripts/wa.exe?LIST=OHIO-BIRDS Send questions or comments about the list to: [log in to unmask]